Some Things I'm Hoping For Post-Pandemic
Some Things I'm Hoping For Post-Pandemic
I think we can all agree that we have had plenty of self reflection time over the past two months. In all honesty, that would be a complete understatement because I have never had this much time to ponder life and existence ever in my short 24 years of living! How confrontational!
For me, the discussions between friends, family and even more so with people on the internet have been enlightening, hopeful, encouraging, motivational, but they have also been negative, draining, exhausting and deflating. There is such a huge amount of mixed opinions, different feelings, different ways this virus has affected people, to the point where its almost impossible to figure out how you should feel about it all.
I still wake up every day and think to myself.. “jeez, we are all really going through this together”. It completely blows my mind that every single person on the planet is being affected by the virus, and I can’t help but think about how fascinated my future children will be when they learn about this insane moment in time, a bit like how we feel when we read about 20th century war. Isn’t that crazy to think about?
There’s no denying that this virus has changed the way we live socially and economically forever, so there has definitely been a lot to think about in terms of how we will all be living post-pandemic. I’m hopeful, so I thought I would share some things that I hope will be more apparent in the near future to help you start feeling a little more hopeful, too.
We’ll stop glorifying the idea of ‘being busy’
I’ve seen this one float around a lot on social media and I couldn’t agree with it more. I don’t know if it’s NZ tall poppy syndrome related but before pandemic life, it felt like there was almost a competition between who was the most busy, and how much work they’ve got going on/how much of a great social life one has etc, etc. I’m guilty of this too, and I think most people I catch up with at various work events will always respond to my “how are you?” with “OMG I am sooooo busy”. Why were we constantly trying to one up each other? Why is being so ‘busy’ a good thing? I would love to not feel so ashamed to respond with something like “life has been pretty chilled, thank you!”. Just because you’re not busy, doesn’t mean you’re not successful.
We will take more domestic holidays
Who doesn’t LOVE an annual Queenstown trip? Our #1 tourist city is going to really need our help over the next couple of years to recover financially, so its more important than ever before to book those fun little weekends away to Queenstown for a skiing trip or a weekend of wine tasting. We live in one of the most beautiful & cleanest countries on earth, and we should definitely be prioritising more domestic travel than ever before. I’ve got so many places on my NZ travel to-do list, and I can’t wait to start ticking them off!
We will prioritise purchases from New Zealand businesses
Another one that has been discussed a lot online in reference to clothing brands and local eateries, and rightly so. If you’ve been following my wardrobe journey over the past 6 months, you’ll know that I have started a more minimal fashion journey where I am focusing on buying quality & purchasing less. When I see a gap in my wardrobe, I will always search through my favourite NZ brands first to see if they have what I’m looking for. I don’t exclusively shop New Zealand brands because understandably they tend to have very small, edited collections that are released seasonally and they don’t always have what I’m looking for, but I will always make it a priority to see if they will, before I turn to other overseas brands. Some of my favourite NZ brands are Ruby, Marle, Standard Issue, Lonely, Kowtow, Georgia Alice and so many more.
We won’t take family or nature for granted
I think this one hit a lot of us really hard. I personally struggled a lot not being able to see my grandparents during level 4, and I was so grateful when we were able to extend our bubble to their households this week. Its so important to stay in touch with not just grandparents, but family too! I’ve also noticed that on my walks, I’ve been really appreciating nature more than ever before. Nothing brings me more joy than watching a couple of Tui’s chit chat on my morning walk! Not to mention what I would do to be at the beach right now!
We will live less superficially
This ties in with my idea of buying from more high quality, NZ brands, but it’s something my mum and I have been talking about a lot. It really does take a pandemic to realise what you can live without, that you can live without new clothes all the time, that even know your nails and your regrowth is starting to look a little out of your comfort zone, it’s nice to know we can still be happy, living simply at home with our loved ones.
Home cooking feels less of a burden
Following on from less superficial living, is the fact that I have really appreciated the art of home cooking. Never in a million years would I have cooked on a Friday or Saturday night at home, mostly because it felt like suuuuuch an effort, but now I realise after being in the habit of cooking more that it’s not actually a big effort, and it can be really fun to make something wholesome and delicious, even on a Saturday night in!
We will focus on building our immunity strength
I literally have never valued my immunity more than ever in my life, and I’m one of those people who get colds all. the. time. This experience has really given me a kick up the butt to make sure I’m always taking my supplements, things like vitamin C, echinacea, and eating lots of immunity boosting foods in my diet and I really think I’m going to be making this a life long habit. My future children will roll their eyes when I give them vitamin C tablets and I’ll be like “I lived through a global pandemic! Now eat your greens!”.
What are you hoping for in the future? I would love to know!